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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS1994

Groups of galaxies in the ROSAT north ecliptic pole survey

The X-ray properties of groups of galaxies are presented. Their distribution of luminosity and temperature appears to be associated with the extrapolation of these distributions from rich clusters of galaxies. The properties of the ensemble of groups of galaxies are almost totally unknown. Only a few X-ray observations of groups that were selected by optical methods were published so far. A sample of eight groups with 'z' inferior to 0.04, of which three have 'z' inferior to 0.03 was investigated. The temperature and the luminosity functions at one point were determined.

Henry, J. Patrick↗
NASA NTRS1977

Primeval gas clouds and the low-energy X-ray background

A model for the appearance of the all-sky low-energy X-ray background on a fine angular scale is presented which is based on primeval hot gas clouds associated with the formation of clusters of galaxies according to the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (1972) model. It is noted that the background could have both granular and diffuse components if it is due to such gas clouds. The observed appearance of the granular component is predicted along with the observable characteristics of collapsing protoclusters. The effects of distant X-ray-emitting QSOs, radio galaxies, and normal galaxies on the observations are considered, and these sources are shown not to interfere with the possibility of observing the protoclusters. It is concluded that if sufficient heating occurred in an intracluster medium within some clusters of galaxies at the protocluster epoch, the ensemble properties of protoclusters could be observed with an X-ray telescope, and the time at which protoclusters formed could perhaps be estimated.

Kellogg, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Coherent motion induced fluctuations in the primary transition region of a plane shear layer

The naturally occurring large scale motions in a single stream shear layer (that is initiated from a fully turbulent boundary layer) are made evident by the induced velocities in the entrainment region beyond the active shear layer. The distinctive attributes of these induced motions are particularly evident in the Michigan State Univerity Free Shear Flow Facility since the total test section length (3m) is nominally the same as the location of the first, fully formed, coherent motion, ca/x theta (0) = 400 (or 2.5 m). Hence, detailed studies of the induced motions can be executed. Individual coherent motions are identified by the induced velocity signatures and conditional-ensemble statistics are used to represent the irrotational field properties. Clusters of such motions exist; some of their properties are substantially different from the unconditionally averaged values.

Foss, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Companions to isolated elliptical galaxies: revisiting the Bothun-Sullivan (1977) sample using the NASA/IPAC extragalactic database

We investigate the number of physical companion galaxies for a sample of relatively isolated elliptical galaxies. The NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) has been usedto reinvestigate the incidence of satellite galaxies for a sample of 34 elliptical galaxies, firstinvestigated by Bothun & Sullivan (1977) using a visual inspection of Palomar Sky Survey prints out to a projected search radius of 75 kpc. We have repeated their original investigation usingdata cataloged data in NED. Nine of these ellipticals appear to be members of galaxy clusters:the remaining sample of 25 galaxies reveals an average of +1.0 f 0.5 apparent companions per galaxy within a projected search radius of 75 kpc, in excess of two equal-area comparisonregions displaced by 150-300 kpc. This is nearly an order of magnitude larger than the +0.12+/- 0.42 companions/galaxy found by Bothun & Sullivan for the identical sample. Making use of published radial velocities, mostly available since the completion of the Bothun-Sullivan study,identifies the physical companions and gives a somewhat lower estimate of +0.4 companions per elliptical. This is still a factor of 3x larger than the original statistical study, but giventhe incomplete and heterogeneous nature of the survey redshifts in NED, it still yields a firmlower limit on the number (and identity) of physical companions. An expansion of the searchradius out to 300 kpc, again restricted to sampling only those objects with known redshifts in NED, gives another lower limit of 4.3 physical companions per galaxy. (Excluding fiveelliptical galaxies in the Fornax cluster this average drops to 3.5 companions per elliptical.)These physical companions are individually identified and listed, and the ensemble-averagedradial density distribution of these associated galaxies is presented. For the ensemble, the radial density distribution is found to have a fall-off consistent with p c( R^-0.5 out to approximately150 kpc. For non-Fornax cluster companions the fall-off continues out to the 300-kpc limit of thesurvey. The velocity dispersion of these companions is found to be constant with projected radial distance from the central elliptical, holding at a value of approximately +/- 300-350 km/sec overall.

NED NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database↗
NASA NTRS2014

The Parallel System for Integrating Impact Models and Sectors (pSIMS)

We present a framework for massively parallel climate impact simulations: the parallel System for Integrating Impact Models and Sectors (pSIMS). This framework comprises a) tools for ingesting and converting large amounts of data to a versatile datatype based on a common geospatial grid; b) tools for translating this datatype into custom formats for site-based models; c) a scalable parallel framework for performing large ensemble simulations, using any one of a number of different impacts models, on clusters, supercomputers, distributed grids, or clouds; d) tools and data standards for reformatting outputs to common datatypes for analysis and visualization; and e) methodologies for aggregating these datatypes to arbitrary spatial scales such as administrative and environmental demarcations. By automating many time-consuming and error-prone aspects of large-scale climate impacts studies, pSIMS accelerates computational research, encourages model intercomparison, and enhances reproducibility of simulation results. We present the pSIMS design and use example assessments to demonstrate its multi-model, multi-scale, and multi-sector versatility.

crop modeling↗
NASA NTRS2024

Synergistic Retrievals of Ice in High Clouds From Elastic Backscatter Lidar, Ku-band Radar and Submillimeter Wave Radiometer Observations

In this study, we investigate the synergy of elastic backscatter lidar, Ku-band radar, and sub-millimeter-wave radiometer measurements in the retrieval of ice from satellite observations. The synergy is analyzed through the generation of a large dataset of IceWater Content (IWC) profiles and simulated lidar, radar and radiometer observations. The characteristics of the instruments e.g. frequencies, sensitivities, etc. are set based on the expected characteristics of instruments of the Atmosphere Observing System (AOS) mission. A hold-out validation methodology is used to assess the accuracy of the IWC profiles retrieved from various combinations of observations from the three instruments. Specifically, the IWC and associated observations are randomly divided into two datasets, one for training and the other for evaluation. The training dataset is used to train the retrieval algorithm, while the evaluation dataset is used to assess the retrieval performance. The dataset of IWC profiles is derived from CloudSat reflectivity and CALIOP lidar observations. The retrieval of the ice water content IWC profiles from the computed observations is achieved in two steps. In the first step, a class, out of 18 potential classes characterized by different vertical distribution of IWC, is estimated from the observations. The 18 classes are predetermined based on the k-Means clustering algorithm. In the second step, the IWC profile is estimated using an Ensemble Kalman Smoother (EKS) algorithm that uses the estimated class as a priori information. The results of the study show that the synergy of lidar, radar, and radiometer observations is significant in the retrieval of the IWC profiles. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that this synergy was found under idealized conditions, and additional work might be required to materialize it in practice. The inclusion of the lidar backscatter observations in the retrieval process has a larger impact on the retrieval performance than the inclusion of the radar observations. As ice clouds have a significant impact on atmospheric radiative processes, this work is relevant to ongoing efforts to reduce uncertainties in climate analyses and projections.

Mircea Grecu↗
NASA NTRS2012

Recovery of Deep Moonquake Focal Mechanisms

Deep moonquakes are clustered not only in space but also in time: their recurrence times correspond to the durations of the anomalistic and draconic months, with some clusters preferring one of the two periods, while others are active with both periods. A key constraint for the understanding of the connection between the orbital motion of the Moon and its seismic activity is the focal mechanism: the orientation of the fault surface on which failure occurs during the quake. Due to the small aperture of the Apollo seismic network and the strong scattering of seismic waves within the lunar crust, the evaluation of P wave first motions to constrain the strike and dip of the fault planes is not feasible. Instead we evaluate the amplitude ratios of P and S waves. Seismograms are rotated into the P-SV-SH coordinate frame and amplitudes are determined as averages over short time windows after the arrival to reduce the impact of the scattering coda, which is independent of the source orientation. We allow for reversals of the fault motion, as observed for some clusters in previous studies, by taking into account the absolute amplitude only, without sign. An empirical site correction factor is applied to correct for amplitude distortions in the crust. We construct ensembles of fault plane solutions using an exhaustive grid search by accepting all orientations that reproduce the measured amplitude ratios within the observed standard deviations. Since all events of a given cluster are supposed to share the same fault plane, the combination of the individual inversion results further constrains the orientation. We evaluate 106 events from 25 different moonquake clusters. The most active cluster A001 contributes 37 events, while others contribute 1 to 9 events per cluster. Comparison of fault orientations with the variation of the tidal stress results in preferred orientations.

Weber, Renee C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

A high spectral resolution VLA search for H I absorption towards A496, A1795, and A2584

In this paper, we present the results of a Very Large Array (VLA) search for H I absorption with high spectral resolution (1.6 km/s) towards A496, A1795, A2584, and A2597. These observations are well matched to the properties of cold, optically thick H I clouds, where the line width is given by the width of an individual cloud rather than the dispersion in an ensemble of clouds. We do not detect any H I absorption with narrow linewidths in these clusters. Our limits mainly apply to clouds which are larger than a few tenths parsec-i.e., if the clouds are much smaller than the background radio source and have a low covering factor in velocity space, they could still escape detection. The estimated limits on column density (for clouds in this regime of parameter space) are 2-3 orders of magnitude less than the 10(exp 21)/sq cm required to explain the x-ray absorption seen in some cooling flow clusters. The combination of our high spectral resolution H I absorption searches with the existing lower spectral resolution H I absorption searches and the searches for H I emission makes it unlikely that atomic hydrogen is the dominant component of the cold x-ray absorbing gas in the inter-cloud medium (ICM).

O'Dea, Christopher P.↗
NASA NTRS2002

Computing Aerodynamic Performance of a 2D Iced Airfoil: Blocking Topology and Grid Generation

The ice accrued on airfoils can have enormously complicated shapes with multiple protruded horns and feathers. In this paper, several blocking topologies are proposed and evaluated on their ability to produce high-quality structured multi-block grid systems. A transition layer grid is introduced to ensure that jaggedness on the ice-surface geometry do not to propagate into the domain. This is important for grid-generation methods based on hyperbolic PDEs (Partial Differential Equations) and algebraic transfinite interpolation. A 'thick' wrap-around grid is introduced to ensure that grid lines clustered next to solid walls do not propagate as streaks of tightly packed grid lines into the interior of the domain along block boundaries. For ice shapes that are not too complicated, a method is presented for generating high-quality single-block grids. To demonstrate the usefulness of the methods developed, grids and CFD solutions were generated for two iced airfoils: the NLF0414 airfoil with and without the 623-ice shape and the B575/767 airfoil with and without the 145m-ice shape. To validate the computations, the computed lift coefficients as a function of angle of attack were compared with available experimental data. The ice shapes and the blocking topologies were prepared by NASA Glenn's SmaggIce software. The grid systems were generated by using a four-boundary method based on Hermite interpolation with controls on clustering, orthogonality next to walls, and C continuity across block boundaries. The flow was modeled by the ensemble-averaged compressible Navier-Stokes equations, closed by the shear-stress transport turbulence model in which the integration is to the wall. All solutions were generated by using the NPARC WIND code.

Chi, X.↗
NASA NTRS2023

Multiyear Dry Periods in Southern Africa

Characteristics and physical features related to low precipitation across many years in Southern Africa that lead to societal disruptions are diagnosed using observed analyses and an ensemble of historical coupled climate model simulations during 1921 to 2014. Four regions are evaluated, as identified through a hierarchical clustering algorithm applied to the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) during the October–April precipitation season. Although dryness spanning many October–April occurs periodically in each region, they seldom occur simultaneously, consistent with largely insignificant SPI cross-correlations between them. However, characteristics relevant to low precipitation across many years are generalizable between the four regions, including the serial persistence of October–April precipitation, the likelihood of consecutive dry October–April, and the likelihood of dry October–April in temporal extents of up to 10 consecutive such 7-month seasons. Systematic precipitation persistence is not a feature in any of the four Southern Africa regions, as serial correlations of October–April SPI are not statistically significant at any time lags. It follows that there is an exponential-folding decay in the likelihood of consecutive October–April for various SPI thresholds and that there is a large spread in the likelihood of low October–April SPI across many years. In terms of physical features, low October–April SPI in each Southern Africa region is closely related to local atmospheric circulations; however, they are not as closely related to sea surface temperatures (SSTs). These results suggest that dryness spanning many years is determined primarily by persistent local circulations related to atmospheric variability and to a lesser extent variability related to SST anomalies, including the El Niño–Southern Oscillation.

subtropical Indian Ocean dipole↗
NASA NTRS1986

Incipient fault detection study for advanced spacecraft systems

A feasibility study to investigate the application of vibration monitoring to the rotating machinery of planned NASA advanced spacecraft components is described. Factors investigated include: (1) special problems associated with small, high RPM machines; (2) application across multiple component types; (3) microgravity; (4) multiple fault types; (5) eight different analysis techniques including signature analysis, high frequency demodulation, cepstrum, clustering, amplitude analysis, and pattern recognition are compared; and (6) small sample statistical analysis is used to compare performance by computation of probability of detection and false alarm for an ensemble of repeated baseline and faulted tests. Both detection and classification performance are quantified. Vibration monitoring is shown to be an effective means of detecting the most important problem types for small, high RPM fans and pumps typical of those planned for the advanced spacecraft. A preliminary monitoring system design and implementation plan is presented.

Milner, G. Martin↗
NASA NTRS1995

Experimental studies of the properties of 'simulated' upstream turbulence using a statistical multipoint method

In this report we present a different approach to the multipoint measurement of magnetic fields and plasma. This is called the multi-spacecraft ensemble technique (MET), essentially free of process restrictions, such as linearity and stationarity. We comprehensively discuss the other conditions and limitations intrinsic to this statistical method. We also show the results of the application of the ensemble method to the synthetic data obtained from a hybrid simulation in the region upstream of a quasi-parallel shock. The important implications of the above approach for the CLUSTER mission are discussed.

Orlowski, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Computer simulation of surface and film processes

All the investigations which were performed employed in one way or another a computer simulation technique based on atomistic level considerations. In general, three types of simulation methods were used for modeling systems with discrete particles that interact via well defined potential functions: molecular dynamics (a general method for solving the classical equations of motion of a model system); Monte Carlo (the use of Markov chain ensemble averaging technique to model equilibrium properties of a system); and molecular statics (provides properties of a system at T = 0 K). The effects of three-body forces on the vibrational frequencies of triatomic cluster were investigated. The multilayer relaxation phenomena for low index planes of an fcc crystal was analyzed also as a function of the three-body interactions. Various surface properties for Si and SiC system were calculated. Results obtained from static simulation calculations for slip formation were presented. The more elaborate molecular dynamics calculations on the propagation of cracks in two-dimensional systems were outlined.

Tiller, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Constraints on chemical evolution models from QSOALS abundances

Models of the formation and early chemical evolution of our Galaxy are guided and constrained by our knowledge of abundances in globular cluster stars and halo field stars. The abundance patterns identified in halo and disk stars should be discernible in absorption lines of gas clouds in forming galaxies which are accidentally lying in front of background QSO's. Conversely, the ensemble of QSO absorption line systems (QSOALS) at each redshift may suggest a detailed model for the formation of our Galaxy that is testable using abundance patterns in halo stars.

Lauroesch, J. T.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Classifying Multi-Model Wheat Yield Impact Response Surfaces Showing Sensitivity to Temperature and Precipitation Change

Crop growth simulation models can differ greatly in their treatment of key processes and hence in their response to environmental conditions. Here, we used an ensemble of 26 process-based wheat models applied at sites across a European transect to compare their sensitivity to changes in temperature (minus 2 to plus 9 degrees Centigrade) and precipitation (minus 50 to plus 50 percent). Model results were analysed by plotting them as impact response surfaces (IRSs), classifying the IRS patterns of individual model simulations, describing these classes and analysing factors that may explain the major differences in model responses. The model ensemble was used to simulate yields of winter and spring wheat at four sites in Finland, Germany and Spain. Results were plotted as IRSs that show changes in yields relative to the baseline with respect to temperature and precipitation. IRSs of 30-year means and selected extreme years were classified using two approaches describing their pattern. The expert diagnostic approach (EDA) combines two aspects of IRS patterns: location of the maximum yield (nine classes) and strength of the yield response with respect to climate (four classes), resulting in a total of 36 combined classes defined using criteria pre-specified by experts. The statistical diagnostic approach (SDA) groups IRSs by comparing their pattern and magnitude, without attempting to interpret these features. It applies a hierarchical clustering method, grouping response patterns using a distance metric that combines the spatial correlation and Euclidian distance between IRS pairs. The two approaches were used to investigate whether different patterns of yield response could be related to different properties of the crop models, specifically their genealogy, calibration and process description. Although no single model property across a large model ensemble was found to explain the integrated yield response to temperature and precipitation perturbations, the application of the EDA and SDA approaches revealed their capability to distinguish: (i) stronger yield responses to precipitation for winter wheat than spring wheat; (ii) differing strengths of response to climate changes for years with anomalous weather conditions compared to period-average conditions; (iii) the influence of site conditions on yield patterns; (iv) similarities in IRS patterns among models with related genealogy; (v) similarities in IRS patterns for models with simpler process descriptions of root growth and water uptake compared to those with more complex descriptions; and (vi) a closer correspondence of IRS patterns in models using partitioning schemes to represent yield formation than in those using a harvest index. Such results can inform future crop modelling studies that seek to exploit the diversity of multi-model ensembles, by distinguishing ensemble members that span a wide range of responses as well as those that display implausible behaviour or strong mutual similarities.

Classification; Climate change; Crop model; Ensemb↗
NASA NTRS1986

Modeling of coronal X-ray emission from active cool stars. I Hyades cluster

X-ray pulse height spectra of the most active cool stars in the Hyades cluster obtained with the Einstein IPC cannot be satisfactorily fitted using isothermal thin plasma emission models. Addition of a second isothermal component provides acceptable fits. However, a more physically meaningful set of coronal parameters is provided by models which consist of an ensemble of loops wih a single maximum temperature, but with the temperature distribution within the loop determined by loop physics. Such models have been successfully fitted to the IPC pulse height spectra. Constraints on loop parameters are discussed for the F-G dwarfs BD + 14 deg 693, BD + 14 deg 690, BD + 15 deg 640, and 71 Tau. Models with a large variation of loop cross section from base to top do not fit the data. A consistent physical description is an ensemble of small high-pressure loops of similar maximum temperature which dominate the coronal X-ray spectrum.

Stern, R. A.↗
NASA NTRS2012

NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) Presentation

The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) offers integrated supercomputing, visualization, and data interaction technologies to enhance NASA's weather and climate prediction capabilities. It serves hundreds of users at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, as well as other NASA centers, laboratories, and universities across the US. Over the past year, NCCS has continued expanding its data-centric computing environment to meet the increasingly data-intensive challenges of climate science. We doubled our Discover supercomputer's peak performance to more than 800 teraflops by adding 7,680 Intel Xeon Sandy Bridge processor-cores and most recently 240 Intel Xeon Phi Many Integrated Core (MIG) co-processors. A supercomputing-class analysis system named Dali gives users rapid access to their data on Discover and high-performance software including the Ultra-scale Visualization Climate Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT), with interfaces from user desktops and a 17- by 6-foot visualization wall. NCCS also is exploring highly efficient climate data services and management with a new MapReduce/Hadoop cluster while augmenting its data distribution to the science community. Using NCCS resources, NASA completed its modeling contributions to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCG) Fifth Assessment Report this summer as part of the ongoing Coupled Modellntercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5). Ensembles of simulations run on Discover reached back to the year 1000 to test model accuracy and projected climate change through the year 2300 based on four different scenarios of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and land use. The data resulting from several thousand IPCC/CMIP5 simulations, as well as a variety of other simulation, reanalysis, and observationdatasets, are available to scientists and decision makers through an enhanced NCCS Earth System Grid Federation Gateway. Worldwide downloads have totaled over 110 terabytes of data.

Webster, William P.↗
NASA NTRS1992

The kinematics of intermediate-redshift gaseous galaxy halos

High-resolution spectroscopy of the absorption lines associated with four intermediate-redshift galaxies are presented. These observations are combined with existing spectroscopy of the redshifted 21-cm absorption lines toward 0235 + 164 and 1229 - 021. Evidence is presented to the effect that the lines of sight through the absorbers toward 0235 + 164 and 1229 - 021 penetrate material for which the velocity fields are dominated by systematic rather than by random motions, and the line profiles are found to be consistent with what is expected for rotating ensembles of clouds. It is suggested that for these two absorbers the absorption arises in individual clouds within single galaxy halos rather than, for example, in collections of coalescing subgalactic fragments, for which the expected velocity fields are more turbulent, or as a result of galaxy-galaxy clustering. It is concluded that lines of sight that impact absorbing regions at small impact parameters intercept many clouds, sample large velocity intervals, and are likely to show redshifted 21-cm absorption, whereas lines of sight that impact absorbing regions at large impact parameters intercept few clouds, sample small velocity intervals, and are unlikely to show redshifted 21-cm absorption.

Lanzetta, Kenneth M.↗